Here’s a two-shot film panorama I took years ago showing a stone wall from the lower level of a home, extending to the adjoining property as a retaining wall. I thought the use of materials and design were pretty cool, that’s why I took the snaps. This is another Charlevoix Michigan neighborhood scene, more from this …
Here are a few samples from Fuji’s Superia ISO 1600 film (B&H Amazon eBay). When shooting with film this fast in 135 format, you can pretty much count on some grainy images and low resolution; so my expectations were low from the get-go, and obviously it’s the first time I’ve used this film. However, after a quick scan …
Our review camera today is the ILFORD HP5 Plus 400 single use camera (B&H Photo, Ebay, Amazon) which comes loaded with ILFORD HP5 400 black and white film. Apparently this is ILFORDs attempt to enter the ever-dwindling single use camera market currently dominated by Kodak and Fuji; if so, Kodak and Fuji have nothing to worry about. These simple little film cameras are supposed to appeal to customers that want something different, and fun. Some folks may have fun with a really cheap quality B&W camera, and some folks will be angry that they wasted ten bucks. Based on the results I received, I'm among the latter.
Shall we do a quick walk-around of our review camera?
Film type; black and white HP5 Plus 400. This is somewhat of a 'classic' B&W film with
Do you really want to spend $10,000 USD on a few good lenses to put on your $3000 full frame body? If you're going to buy the 35/1.4 Zeiss, 50/1.4 Zeiss, 85/1.4 GM, 24-70/2.8 GM and 70-200/2.8 GM lenses, plan on spending just that!
I'm not going to spend that much, even though I run a photography business and can afford to buy every lens in the Sony line-up. Why would I not buy the best lenses since I do use the equipment every day? Well, because I don't think it's necessary. I've never needed more than about 24mp for any finished work, and after re-visiting my images from almost 10 years ago, I honestly can hardly tell the differences from a brand new expensive 'e' mount Zeiss lens from many of the old Minolta AF lens I used and reviewed years ago; so I've decided to go back and dig through some of my test shots and see which lenses I can recommend for the new Sony Mirrorless high megapixel cameras. The first lens I re-visited was the Minolta AF 135/2.8, see the post below.
Currently there are some big holes in the Sony 'e' mount line-up, and I'll be covering those areas first; so stay tuned for more Minolta AF lens recommendations!
Tired of paying thousands of dollars for the new 'GM' and Zeiss lenses from Sony? I am!!! It's getting freakin ridiculous! Let's begin to re-visit some of the old Minolta AF lenses and see if we can get some bargains.
I've updated the Minolta AF 135mm F/2.8 review by adding some full resolution shots from the A900 and A580 cameras, go to the bottom of the review and click on the yellow tabs for each camera.
This little lens will fully function on the latest Sony mirrorless camera with these adapters, even auto focus! This Minolta 135/2.8 offers outstanding performance for the price, eBay runs around $100-$300 USD depending on condition.
When I looked at the full size images a few days ago, I was surprised at how good this lens performed overall. It works surprisingly well at F/4, (it can handle a high megapixel sensor), very sharp with only a little color fringing, almost no distortion, and did I mention it's cheap?
Here’s another addition to our “Kodak” moments portfolio; brought to you by Kodak Gold color negative film from the early 2000s. For the second time the subject is a home in Charlevoix Michigan, (first time here); It’s special in that it was made in a quirky way. Earl Young, a Realtor who enjoyed photography and architecture, designed …
Check out my latest camera review for film lovers, this one took me two years to complete(!) It's the companion to the wide angle GSW690III. Also available in the review are super high res samples!!
If you're looking for a little more resolution than what you're getting from your 35mm film cameras look no further! The Fuji 'G' 6x9 series cameras are great, with enough resolution for really big prints, or future proofing on the coming 8k screens if you like to scan your pictures and look at them on your computer.
Up for close inspection is a nice photograph of Watkins Glen State Park main entrance from the 1920s. I purchased a set of 8 1/2 x 6 1/2″ glass plate negatives off eBay, which included 11 images of the park, this one was probably the first picture, or the last, the others show landmarks along the way up.
I have …
